Quint on the set of THE MIST: Day 3!!! Carmody! Earthquake! And... Wanna see some pics from the set?

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with Day 3, my second to last day on the set of Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novella THE MIST.
I’m still in the hotel, about to head out to set, but I thought I’d address a couple questions I’ve gotten about the project. The most common seems to be in relation to Frank Darabont’s involvement in the special effects-heavy 2nd Unit, directed by Greg Nicotero.
This isn’t a situation where Darabont only wants to focus on the character work of the story, letting the “lower brow” creature stuff be done by the gore guys. My understanding is that Darabont gets a huge kick out of this stuff and is even going out of his way to direct some sequences other directors might leave to 2nd Unit because it was such a cool part of the book and he wanted to realize it personally.
He spent last week, before I arrived, shooting the entire Loading Dock/Store Room sequence and Nicotero is getting the specific moments usually not involving the main actors, which is necessary if they’re going to shoot this movie on such a tight schedule.
What I’ve seen of Darabont’s collaboration with Nicotero is usually Greg coming in with a small monitor and grabbing Frank in between shots and running his taped rehearsal of the shot by Darabont, getting his notes and ideas. I also know Darabont watches the dailies every night, including 2nd Unit footage, and if he has a problem with a shot they’ll redo it.
Yes, Frances Sternhagen is playing Mrs. Irene Reppler.
I had one email asking me if Darabont is using music on the set to add to the spooky atmosphere. Not so far, but then again the mist just rolled in yesterday, at least for what I’ve been here to see on main unit. The spooky stuff is just beginning to happen.
Speaking of spooky stuff, I noticed driving to the set today that the exit I take is 19A. Nineteen being Ka, central to the Dark Tower series. And even creepier, there’s a Holiday Inn right off the exit with a giant rose painted on it. Is Stephen King controlling the universe?
Before I get to what I saw today, I have to bring up some bit of coolness. When I spoke with Darabont today he flat out said he was reading the talkbacks and saw a demand for pictures, so he said I could take any pictures I wanted (as long as they didn’t need actor’s approval to be shown) and that he’d give me some set photos from the man-god still photographer, Ralph Nelson.
So, you’ll see at least a dozen pics in this article and tomorrow’s final article, courtesy of the all-seeing eye of Ralph Nelson, my own shitty little digital camera and Frank Darabont.

You’re going to get an incredible look at this set. You’ll know the market inside out by the time I’m done with you, plus you’ll get an extra special treat at the bottom of this page. This kind of access is uncommon and I thank Darabont, his producers, Dimension and the actors (for giving their approval) for allowing this to happen. Now back to the report!
I almost missed the big earthquake scene. They got the first take right when I got to the stages, but I was outside when the bell rang and the lights started flashing alerting anyone outside that they were rolling. I could hear it, though.
They ran a great rumble though a few speakers around the set. When they turned it on the rumble was like when Sauron explodes at the beginning of FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING… if that’s not too geeky a reference. But it was turned up enough to rattle the pants legs, even standing outside.
When I got in the place was a mess. Shit was knocked off shelves, ceiling tiles had fallen, people were panicked.

Thankfully they did a second take. I got to watch the playback, but it’s a different experience watching it all go down live and in the flesh.
The playback was great, but one of the florescent light fixtures wasn’t swinging, so they ran again.. Remember when I kept talking about monofilament in the previous reports? Well, they had many filaments strung across the light fixtures, so a pull on one end or another would cause them all to swing.
They had 3 cameras running for this sequence. The setting is directly after the events I wrote about in Day 2. The Mist rolls over the super market, Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody whispers, “It’s death…” and WHAM! The building shakes. We don’t really know why, but everybody called it the earthquake.
The C camera is on the Mustached Man (who yesterday was claiming the mist was from an exploded chemical mill) in an aisle. A Camera was a high angle on the carnage, looking down on the whole thing and B Camera was eye level with the crowd, focusing mainly on Thomas Jane as David protecting his kid, Billy, played by Nathan Gamble (a 9 year old actor, who was just in BABEL).
I’ll get to my favorite shot last. They didn’t have the place on a gimble, so they STAR TREK’d it, having the crowd of… I don’t know… 30-40 people, including our main cast, act it out while the cameramen thumped the cameras, causing a jerky motion.
A Camera caught the swinging light fixtures as the crowd below dropped to the ground, grabbing onto something solid or stumbling on their feet. One of the light fixtures snaps and the florescent casing goes crashing down, A Camera tilting to follow it all the way.
B Camera was on Jane as the earthquake starts. He has his kid in his arms and crouches protectively just as the florescent casing crashes down no more than a couple feel away from him.
C Camera, my favorite angle on this, had the Mustached Man stumbling. It was a low angle and when the florescent lighting fixture comes down, one end barely misses his head and smacks into the shelf, sending groceries spilling to the floor before the rest of the casing falls and hits the floor.
The post-earthquake scene is a powerful one. Everybody is confused. What is the mist? It’s dangerous, but why? Is it a “pollution cloud” like mustache man thinks it is? If not, what is it?
People’s inherent kindness or fearfulness or craziness rise to the surface at this point.
Carmody starts quoting from the bible, something about the 7th Angel “such as not seen on earth, the mighty quake… it’s the end of days!” Sally, the cute bag check girl, tells her to stop it. Carmody, seeming genuinely trying to show the girl the truth of the situation holds the bible out to her. “It’s true!” There’s some confusion, people yelling back and forth, panic just under the surface of the crowd.
At this point a young mother, sharply dressed with short-cut dark hair, played by Melissa McBride, speaks up, saying she can’t stay in the store, she has to get home to her children. Mrs. Carmody desperately tells her it’s death to leave, Ollie agreeing, but in a less fanatical way.
McBride, lower lip trembling and eyes watering, says it doesn’t matter… “I can’t stay here.” Her little daughter, 8 years old, is looking after her younger son. She was only supposed to be gone for a few minutes. “She sometimes forgets she’s supposed to be watching him, you know?” Her voice breaks as she thinks of her kids.
Bloody Nose (Jeff DeMunn) calmly tries to tell her it’s better for her kids if she stays out of the mist, but she’s past the point of being able to consider that option.
“Isn’t anybody going to help me? Won’t somebody… won’t somebody see a lady home?” Her voice really cracks here, her eyes desperately searching the crowd, all now attentively watching her and dead silent.
She looks to Ollie (Toby Jones). “You?” Ollie doesn’t break eye contact. His mouth is open slightly, like he’s searching for something to say, but all he can do is slightly shake his head. It’s not a “No” really, but it is a “I don’t know what to do” gesture.
The distraught Mom looks to a couple more people. “You?” No luck. She turns to Norton (Andre Braugher). “You?” His eyes widen and he looks away, down to the ground, avoiding her gaze?
Finally, she turns to David, still holding Billy. “You?” He responds, “Ma’am, please… I got my own boy to worry about.”
The woman gives a defiant, but obviously terrified, last statement. “I hope you all rot in hell.” Her voice isn’t raised, but the obvious pain stabs deeper than anger would have. Everybody in the store looks ashamed as she strides for the door.
Ollie, meek as he is, tries to stop her from going, almost begging her not to. She pushes him out of the way. Bloody Nose, still close to the door, puts a hand out and she dodges, opening the door and stepping out.
Before she closes the door behind her, she looks back at those in the market, every single pair of eyes on her. She lets the door close and turns to face the mist. She strides into it, disappearing completely into it after 4 or 5 steps.
This sequence was incredibly powerful, McBride getting applause from the cast and crew at the end of a particularly touching and heartbreaking take.
And this would be a good point to point out that there was no greenscreen set up. They pumped the exterior of the market full of mist, so when I say she disappeared into the mist… she really disappeared into the mist. Here’s a shot of the storefront, with the mist outside the windows:

You can see the stage lights at the top there.
They got a ton of coverage of this sequence. They started with both cameras on McBride, naturally. I heard Darabont say he wanted to get her stuff first because it’s so emotional and he didn’t want her to be spent before her close shots.
A later shot focused on the group watching her and we get to see each person’s reaction. Ollie’s close-up is wrenching. He wants to help her so bad… Toby Jones is really knocking this out of the park so far and he’s hardly said anything. It’s just the way he’s holding himself, expressing his character though his expressions and body language.
There was a great shot that had McBride’s face in profile on the right side of the frame. Giant face, chin at the bottom, top of the head at the top and in the background is Norton. He’s out of focus as she went through the “You? You? You?s” and then she turns to him and right as she says, “You?” to him they rack focus to him, his eyes widening as he hangs his head.

I love that. It’s near the back of the store and for a Stephen King geek, I can’t get enough references to Castle Rock.
We broke for Lunch around this time and I paled around with Eric Powell a bit. I have a few of THE GOON graphic novels, which Powell created, and I’m going to give them a read. I like the guy, though. His sense of humor is very much in line with mine. He was visiting the set as a friend of Darabont’s, so were always sitting together watching playback.
During lunch I sat with Darabont and Powell and we talked about all sorts of geek stuff, from Berni Wrightson (who did a lot of design work on THE MIST, including the tentacles mentioned in the previous reports), Alan Moore, Frank Miller, 300 and Stephen King.
We talked a little about the spiders that pop up later in the movie… my god these things are so creepy as a concept. I saw a maquette of one, but I’m told it’s not final… it was very eerie. Darabont said they were very much inspired by the Zanti Misfits from Outer Limits in that they have some human features… in this case, a grinning mouth with human teeth.
After lunch they got more coverage, this time featuring only the crowd, including a bit focusing on the young army man, Jessup (Sam Witwer, who I discovered loves good bad movies, like me… we had a nice discussion about the classic DUNGEONS & DRAGONS at lunch). He might have a suspicion or two… know a little more than the rest of the people in there… and his face shows that.
They set up the light to fall one more time and got one last bit of coverage on the earthquake. C Camera is on the ground, the sunglass stand falling in front of it, sending glasses spilling across the ground. B Camera was on the crowd reacting to the quake and A was on Marcia Gay Harden, who began quoting the scripture just after the quake stops, as she’s rising to her feet.
The next set up had both A and B cameras outside, in the mist, looking in to the store as the Mom leaves, pausing to look back in the store before walking past the cameras and into the mist. The cameras moved in on DeMunn’s bloody face, his expression sad as he watches her disappear. .
For some unknown reason Darabont brought out a giant balloon with Brooks & Dunn’s names/logo on it. It was about 3 feet in circumference. After that last take he asks everybody to stay in their positions. He then brought the giant balloon out and threw it at the mass.
Poor Jeff DeMunn was standing, back to everybody, still looking out the window, keeping his position. It took him a few seconds to register the laughing behind him as everybody bounced the ball up in the air, like at a concert.
It didn’t take long before the balloon caught a sharp edge somewhere and popped, but it was fun while it lasted.
Little Nathan Gamble came over and watched playback with us in the Bread n’ Cakes section for a bit and we learned all about his Swear Jar, where he gets $2 from anybody who swears around him. Apparently, Thomas Jane already owes him $6. The consensus seemed to be that he was going to clean up.
Matter of fact, he had a take shortly after this where he had to cry. It was a steadicam shot following Jane as he tries to comfort Billy (this is after he watched the distraught mother walk into the mist) who is hysterical and asking for his mother. Jane walks him down an aisle, away from the crowd and to the back of the store.
After the take, the kid came back and sat next to me. I saw an opportunity, so I pulled out $2 and handed it to him. He looked confused, then I said, “You did a very good job on that take… asshole.” It took a second for him to register it, but then he smiled and pocketed my money.
I’m happy to contribute to the kid’s college fund.
A new Jar was brought out, this time with THE MIST logo (red and white with the outline of a spider above the words “Stephen King’s THE MIST”), except it now read STEPHEN KING’S THE FOG and below that it was a sign that informed me there was a $5 fine for referring to The Mist as The Fog.
Apparently, HAROLD AND KUMAR 2 is also shooting in Shreveport and one of the Producer’s Assistants was killed in a bad accident. She left behind two kids and the idea is they’ll fill this jar and donate the money inside to them.
The last scene for the day was another progression, the beginnings of the people inside the store coping with what they’ve seen and the very early stages of the society that develops within the store, the groups that start to form.
We had to move out of the Bread n’ Cakes section and camped out at the front doors as Norton, A Biker, Mustache Man and a few other took over the bread section, talking about what’s going on, Norton in the lead.
He’s saying that he’s sure whatever is happening is just temporary. “It’s obviously some kind of natural disaster…”
The biker says, “There ain’t nothin’ obvious about ‘bout this sumbitch from where I sit.” Mustache Man says, “Nothin’ natural, either.”
Mrs. Carmody snuck up behind them and speaks up, causing Norton to turn towards her. “It’s judgment day. There’s nothing more obvious and natural than that.” The biker sighs and says, “Aw, fuck me.”
Carmody, in sickly sweet condescending voice says, “Oh, I won’t have to, young man. You already did that with a life of sin and dissolution…”
Norton cuts her off and moves between her and the group, successfully excluding her. Pretty much going, “Anyway, this cloud will dissipate…” Carmody backs away, bumping into a bookshelf… with a decided slant towards one author…

The crew arranged it so Salem’s Lot was hanging over, which put it in the shot. Darabont thought it might be too obvious and started moving books around, eventually saying, “This’ll be Stephen King’s cameo in the movie!” He turned around a paperback of CHRISTINE, featuring a photo of King on the back cover, which was in the lower left-hand corner of the frame on A Camera.
Frank’s first words to his cameramen were, “Don’t focus on the damn thing!” He wanted it to be there, but not rubbed in your face.
There was take done where Frank didn’t call cut right away and Braugher went right on, improving as he went. “This cloud… it won’t stay forever!” Immediately, the Mustached Man throws in a cryptic, “It will.” Norton says, “How do you know that?” Mustached Man responds with, “I used to work at the Mills!!!” which, of course, his character has been raving about for 2 days now. Norton shouts back, “WHAT THE FUCK!!!” and everybody cracks up. Yay for blooper reels.
The A Camera during this set-up follows Amanda (Laurie Holden) as she walked down an aisle, aspirin in her hand. I think she also grabbed a bottle of fruit juice. She walks by the group as Carmody is on her high horse and kind of smirks at the situation before walking on.
They set up a reverse of that shot before wrapping for the day.
Now, the shot I promised you before I crash and get my 6 or 7 hours before my last day onset. Ladies and gentlemen… I give you the first ever shot of the tentacles from THE MIST. The below shot gives away a character death, not like it wasn’t very obvious anyway, but I was avoiding mentioning the specific character. Oh well. Good-bye, Normie…

Not bad, huh? See ya’ tomorrow for the final day’s visit and another half-dozen pictures from the set! (PS Thanks to Kraken for the watermarks!)
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com

Quint, thanks so much for these great reports. Really cool to read such in-depth description of the coverage that Darabont is getting - and how he will make a set as static as a supermarket come alive. Cheers from Wellington.

... I would genuinely love to see all 30 days of this shoot being reported on in such detail. Is this possible, Harry, Mori, Quint.... hello? Anyone? PLEASE? Come on... thats gotta be a first for the site... the entire shoot of a film being covered in such brilliant detail?

...thankfully looks just how I'd pictured it. For some reason I was worried that the movie version would be one of those REALLY big supermarkets most of us shop in. But no, this appears to be the type of small-town version I've always pictured when I read this story.

"Hey, you, viewer of our movie, look! Hahaha! Here's a stack of Stephen King books, and all in a Stephen King movie! Doesn't this remind you that it's a just a film? Hahaha! Oh, we're so clever for putting such witty in-jokes in our movie!"

I hope Mr. Darabont will decide to keep the soundtrack of The Mist minimal. One of the scariest aspects of this story is how it plays out in your head as you read it...no soundtrack, just images. In real life, the only soundtrack to an event like this would be natural; the voices of people around you, sounds from the creatures, and mostly silence. There's not much that's scarier than silence, since it allows you to concentrate on the moment rather than dictate how you SHOULD feel at a certain point. Nothing to distract you from WHAT MIGHT BE OUT THERE! On the 3-D audio CD of The Mist, the only soundtrack was a sort of musical "heartbeat" kind of sound along with a discordant, almost alien kind of synthesized sound which played only between scenes. It was VERY effective. I'd hate to see some lush, fully-orchestrated score attached to this. At any rate, I wish everyone the best with this project...it really is one of Steven King's best works, and I'm glad Mr. Frank "ShawFrank" Darabont is directing. King should hire him to direct all of his works. He no doubt would have made even "Maximum Overdrive" a thoroughly watchable flick...

that Darabont would switch the initial setting to a smoke-filled movie theater with AMC's 3 am programming schedule played on a loop. 'Cause everybody knows that if you're gonna make a movie, especially one based on Stephen King book, that smoke-filled theaters are a must. Just kidding, that last photo might be the last possible image I would ever think about if you said "Darabont's new movie". This could be some fun

Idiots? Really Jack? So tell me, when was the last time you did anything significant with your life... you know, other than figure out how to wipe your own ass the other day and learn to use a message board on the internet? I'm curious where your superiority complex originates from. Or maybe you're just naturally a dick.

I still think the tentacles are gonna mess up the movie. Surely there's nothing cheesier than tentacles attacking people. It would have been better to lose them and make it more about personal horrors and the mist.

But one of my best friends in high school was telling me one day he had read a short story called "The Mist" and it was pretty freaking scary with all of these people trapped in a supermarket and monsters in the fog.I think he told me how it ended but i forget. I know King's fans are not ever happy with his endings so I wonder what the movie ending will be,and if its the same as the novella , is that a good thing or bad?

Innocent (and not so innocent) people go about their normal lives. Something bad happens, then lots of terrible things happen, systematically lowering the number of characters you have to keep track of. Definitely one of the best horror stories by King. Horrors aren't just things going bump in the night, but the things that inhabit the souls of man, too.

Another day, another jaw-dropping report from Quint! That opening photo of the market was truly beautiful. For years, I've had my own variation of the market. Where I grew up in Iowa, there was a Hy-Vee supermarket and a Walgreens next to it about 500 ft from our local shopping center. Because it was so isolated, I envisioned The Mist overtaking it perfectly (though in terms of geography compared to the book, the crew would have had to have gone right instead of left to get to the drugstore).
Too bad Quint's about to leave as the panic begins to set in-it's like Mommy leading you away from the tiger pit just as they throw some meat to the hungry cats.
Btw, did anyone notice that in the photo of the closeup of the glass, we can see the window that is cracked? And just beyond it are those fertilizer bags next to that Jeep.
One item that noone ever talks about with the book, is the woman who leaves the market. She's the only one who seems to go into the Mist, and we hear no scream, or creature noises-it's a great speculation of did she somehow make it? I still hope that Frank also has some hand in the sound editing of this piece, because sound will be key. I can imagine girls clinging to their boyfriends as we hear the tentacles slither around the different sound channels in the theater (preferably a THX-certified theater).

I hate to break it to you but 30 Days of...isn't going to get this kind of treatment because everyone knows it is going to be a travesty. It would be a waist of time. While David Slade can make a film look good he doesn't have much in the way of creating an engagind story. I'm sure when the butchered adaptation of 30 Days hits the big screen, pretty as it may be, will disapoint all of us.

Great job on the design. They're definitely distinctive and gross lookin'...
<p>
And I accidentally referred to the awful "Fog" remake as "the Mist" in a talkback a little while ago, but I will definitely pledge to contribute $6 to get my ticket for this on opening day...

Hopefully those spiders won't have huge bushy eyebrows. Vasquez Rocks in L.A where that Outer Limits episode was filmed has been used for an incredible amount of fantasy films. Kirk Vs Gorn in Arena, most famously. IMDB Vasquez Rocks you'll be amazed I tell ya! P.S Thanks Quint, thanks Frank all this and a tentacle too. You're spoiling us.

Since there's actually a possibility you might read this, I'd like to take this opportunity to say:
I absolutely LOVED Shawshank.
I absolutely LOVED Green Mile.
So many movies are ruined by their endings, yet these are two of the best endings ever put on film. So good, in fact, that I kept worrying they'd go too long and be ruined. I kept thinking, "Oh yes, perfect. Roll credits!" but then it would continue and get even MORE perfect.
Brilliantly executed, sir. They're unforgettable films.
Thank you for doing what you do. And please, please... KEEP DOING IT!

The final lines spoken by Morgan Freeman, pretty much straight from King's book dialogue, are pure excellence. It's something like 'I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.' Fucking amazing. Seriously, is there a more satisfying ending to a movie?

Here's a link to download a mpeg file that will play on Windows Media Player:
http://www.stephenkingshortmovies.com/
Just go to the music page and right-click on the mist picture to download the file.
There's a bunch of other short films based on Stephen King stories that are on this website.

Yea that was funny. As for the supermarket, it looks good. I think everyone who has read the story pictures their neighborhood market or drugstore in the story. Great novella btw, stuck with me for a few days after reading it. And to the user who asked if the book ending is any good. It's pretty much the quintessential King ending: more about haunting the reader then offering any closure. I doubt Darabont will keep it as is.

You want a frickin' medal or something? Go read The Mist and earn your right to know like the rest of us! Just kidding. The Mist is, as O.Crush said, about bad things happening to good and/or not-so-good people. It is likely some of these people will not be around at the end. There is also a strong possibility that it involves mist.

Wow looks like Darabont has nailed it.I just hope he doesnt try and add some sort of emotionaly uplifting scenes.R.E: Shawshanks classical music scene(like convicts give a toss about opera)
Or the way he messed with the story set up on the Green Mile.
The Mist's main attraction is how downbeat and bleak it was.So no happy ending and for the love of god lets not have Tom Jane turning into the Punisher half way thru.